I installed Windows Vista yesterday, accidentally doing so on my "D" drive
rather than my primary "C" drive.

After realizing my mistake, I simply did an image restore of my former XP OS
and reinstalled Vista on my primary "C" drive.

No problems except....

The Windows files from my initial accidental install are still on my "D"
drive and Windows will not let me delete them (although I am no longer
using them).

How I delete those WINDOWS and PROGRAM FILES folders left behind?

Thanks in advance!

Just a note, you can always rename the drives by right-click on the drive letter and clicking properties, it should be right there.

Now if you want to save the files on your D: and copy & paste wont work, boot to dos and do:

copy D:\* c:\d_backup

or whatever you want the names to be. Google.com for a tool called "Unlocker". This is a handy little tool that installs itself right to your right-click menu. Just right click on the file and click unlocker then delete. That will take care of the permission denied error you probably get.

OR

Boot to dos and do:

deltree /y D:\*

That will delete everything in your D:\. Any questions, reply.

josh_rain

You should clear the partitions and reformat that entire drive. Trying that old DOS tactic might not work. Try booting Vista into safe mode. Hit the F8 key on booting.

In Vista go to:

Control Panell
Administrative Tools
Computer Management

Look under Storage, Disk Management.

From here you should be able to make all changes and format the drive.